Canadian Expat in China
03/23/08
Okay Airways shifts focus to regional market
Monday March 17, 2008
ATW Daily News
by Katie Cantle
After suffering from continuous setbacks on its trunk routes, Tianjin-based Okay Airways will shift its focus to the regional market when it takes delivery of its first MA60 turboprop this month, according to Chairman Liu Jieyin.
Its second MA60 is expected to be introduced in April. Last summer, Okay signed an aircraft lease agreement with AVIC I for 10 MA60s (ATWOnline, July 6, 2007). It currently operates five 737s to 22 domestic destinations.
Okay will begin by trying to capture regional fliers in northeastern and northern China before expanding its catchment area to the northwest and central part of the country. Liu said it has conducted market research for airports in Harbin, Shenyang, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang.
“There are twelve empty airports around Harbin, such as Heihe Airport, Mudanjiang Airport, etc., whose geographical distances are between 300 and 600 km., which are the airports we are going to operate in,” he explained. Okay is applying to CAAC for six new regional routes, which he noted will connect with its existing trunk network.
The Chinese regional market remains in its “breeding phase,” as the number of regional aircraft operated by Chinese airlines is just 77 and three main regional carriers–China Express Air, Grand Xinhua Express and Kunpeng Airlines–operate at a loss.
Critics question China's handling of alleged terror plot
By Simon Montlake
The Christian Science Monitor
from the March 12, 2008 edition
Security experts question whether claims about Friday’s domestic airliner incident amount to state propaganda to bolster a pre-Olympics crackdown.
Since Chinese authorities arrested two airline passengers for allegedly plotting to blow up a domestic flight, some analysts and activists are casting doubt on the state’s claim that it had thwarted a pre-Olympics terrorist plot.
The passengers were reportedly arrested after flammable material was found in the airplane’s toilet last Friday. The flight originated in western China, a region where pro-independence Uighur rebels are believed to operate, and was bound for Beijing, the host city for this summer’s Olympics.
Few details have emerged of the incident, or about why the plane was allowed to continue to Beijing after an emergency landing in the western city of Lanzhou. Questions have also been raised over separate claims that militants in the little-known East Turkmenistan Islamic Movement, a UN-designated terrorist group, are plotting to disrupt the Olympics. Exiled Uighur activists condemned the reports as “falsified” terror plots designed to discredit their cause.
Airport security has been tightened at Urumqi in Xinjiang, the origin of the China Southern Airlines flight, reports the Associated Press. Chinese media, citing security sources, have reported that a young Uighur woman was among those detained. The head of civil aviation said the crew acted after passengers were found with a “suspicious liquid.”
The BBC reports that Xinjiang’s governor accused the suspects of “an attempt to crash the plane” and said the crew’s response had averted “an air disaster.”
“Who the people involved in the incident were, where they were from, what their aim was and what their background was, we are now investigating,” he said.
On Monday, a US-based Uighur activist accused Beijing of fabricating terror plots to justify further repression of Uighur communities, reports Al Jazeera. The head of the Uighur American Association, Rebiya Kadeer, said the latest incident was a cover for a political crackdown in Xinjiang. Ms. Kadeer asked why the detained suspects from the aircraft weren’t paraded before the cameras.
“It seems that the Chinese government has one goal, which is to create this scenario of terrorism, and produce a terrorist action itself so that it can blame the Uighur people,” [Kadeer] said.
The oil-rich region of Western China has around 8 million Uighurs, Muslims with ethnic, linguistic, and cultural ties to central Asia. Many resent the Han Chinese majority and restrictions on religious and cultural expressions. Sporadic antigovernment violence flared in the 1990s, but few incidents have been reported in recent years.
News of the alleged attack emerged during China’s annual legislative meeting in Beijing. In addition to the apparent aircraft attack, Wang Lequan, a Communist Party leader, saidpolice had shot dead two members of a “terrorist gang” and arrested 15 others during a raid in January in Xinjiang, Reuters reports. He said the gang was been plotting to “damage the Beijing Olympics.” In January 2007, Chinese forces killed 18 alleged terrorists in Xinjiang, during what authorities said was a raid on a training camp in the mountains.
So far, Chinese media downplayed the story, the Daily Telegraph in London reported. No mention of the terror plot was carried Monday in the People’s Daily, the official party mouthpiece, or by the Chinese-language service of Xinhua, the state-run news agency. Xinhua’s English-language report, issued Sunday after Mr. Wang and Mr. Bekri revealed the threats, was later removed from its website.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the alleged aircraft plot followed a hostage-taking last week in the popular tourist destination of Xian. A Chinese man held 10 Australian travel agents hostage on a bus for three hours before being shot dead by a police sniper. No motive was disclosed and the incident added to China’s focus on security.
Security experts said China represents an obvious target for extremists given the high-profile nature of the Olympics and promised attendance by various heads of state, including President Bush. But Beijing also may have an interest in linking various plots to the Olympics to increase public support for a broad crackdown, […] foreign policy experts said.
“It’s not a surprise that somehow terrorism would show its head at the Olympics, but it strikes me as awfully early,” said Ed Turzanski, senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia.
“The Olympics are a high-risk venture,” he added. “But I also wouldn’t put it past them to use the threat of terrorism to clean up problems they feel they have internally and to get people off their backs, such as human rights groups.”
The apparent lax response of Chinese security officials to the incident has puzzled experts, Time magazine reports. Some have speculated that Xinjiang officials wanted to get publicity during the annual legislature, when intraparty competition for leadership attention is fierce. The foiled plots could help to burnish their antiterrorist credentials. But the security clearance given for the flight to continue to Beijing after the suspects were detained in Lanzhou was at odds with the seriousness of the reported plot, said Steven Tsang, a professor at Oxford University.
“This is more like an air rage incident in which you land and get rid of the troublesome passengers and then continue on to your destination. There’s no way any anti-terrorism police would have released the plane and passengers to fly on without extensive interviews of the passengers, forensic examination of the plane and so on.”
Blogger mutantpalm says that the crew may have overreacted to a false alarm. But China’s fettered media are unlikely to dig deeper into reported arrests or ask why so few details are available of recent terror incidents in Xinjiang.
Given the recent wave of Chinese media reports about being vigilant in the face of Xinjiang terrorism in the run-up to the Olympics, its easy enough to imagine that a paranoid flight attendant on a flight from Urumqi might mistake hand cream left in the toilet for a bomb.
China is taking extraordinary measures to prevent any disturbances during the Olympics, including the recruitment of over 600,000 “security volunteers,” says The Washington Post. An additional 90,000 police and thousands of military and border security personnel will be deployed. Police are also cracking down on domestic political activists and warily watching overseas pressure groups for any sign of dissent, such as the unfurling of banners protesting China’s role in the Darfur crisis.
China has not detailed the exact costs of its security operations, but state media reports last year carried early estimates of about $300 million, a fraction of the $1.8 billion spent in Athens in 2004, the first post-Sept. 11 Summer Olympics. The cost in Beijing, where security forces receive much lower pay, is expected to rise.
03/17/08
Etihad launches global pilot cadet scheme
By Murdo Morrison
Flight Global
14/03/08
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad is launching a worldwide cadet scheme for aspiring first officers as fast-growing airlines in the Middle East and Asia battle to recruit enough pilots.
It will complement Etihad’s existing cadet programme for UAE nationals, which started last year as part of a campaign to convince more locals to train as pilots with the flag carrier.
Although global demand means the pool of experienced first officers is rapidly draining, this is believed to be one of the first times a major carrier has promoted a scheme to train and offer jobs to foreign youngsters with no flying experience.
Etihad plans to launch its first course around June, with a group of 12 would-be pilots. Two further intakes of 12 will follow later in the year. The trainees - school-leavers or college graduates - will move to Abu Dhabi where they will do around 18 months of ab initio training at Horizon Flight Academy, followed by several months of instruction and line-flying under supervision as second officers. They will pay back their fees over eight years as bonded pilots.
The airline, which is expecting a “massive response” to its first advertisements, is looking for “people with a passion who are committed to being a pilot as a long-term career", says Etihad’s executive vice-president operations Richard Hill. “We will be selecting from the top percentile of applicants - the cream of the crop,” he adds.
A total of 48 students will join the separate scheme for UAE nationals in the first year. The airline is keeping the two groups apart initially because of different skills sets and competence in English, but they will be integrated as soon as they begin their flying careers. “We want to make sure there is no divisiveness,” says Hill.
Etihad has a fleet of 37 aircraft and will take delivery of 16 more by 2011, including seven Airbus A330s and four A320s Dubai-based rival Emirates says it has no plans to launch a similar scheme, although, like Etihad, it runs a cadet programme for nationals.* Flight International will be covering Etihad’s plans in detail in our Careers in the Middle East supplement with our 8 April issue.
Please stand by while we find a pilot
By Tess van Straaten - for Business Edge
Published: 03/07/2008 - Vol. 8, No. 5
In our skies and on our roads, Canada’s facing its next transportation crisis - a shortage of experienced pilots and professional truck drivers.
The labour crisis in the trucking industry has been building for the better part of the last decade, but the skills shortage in aviation is just beginning.
“It’s having a large impact on a global scale, because it’s resulted in shifting pilots between countries,” says Marc-David Seidel, an aviation expert and associate professor at the University of British Columbia.
“You have emerging markets in Asia - China and India are the ones we’re hearing a lot about - and the Middle East all actively recruiting and taking Canadian pilots.”
That’s what happened to Capt. Brian Boucher, a veteran pilot who logged 29 years with Air Canada before disembarking for another carrier. Boucher is now flying for India’s Kingfisher Airlines and commutes to its New York City base for his shifts.
“All these airlines overseas now are starting to create bases here in North America and there’s no doubt more (Canadian) pilots will start flying for them,” Boucher says. “The pay’s better and the quality of life is better.”
Factor in large-scale retirements as Baby Boomer pilots reach age 60, the mandatory retirement age at most carriers, and insiders agree there’s turbulence ahead for the industry.
“I don’t know if it’s the perfect storm,” says Capt. Andy Wilson, president of the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA). “But I would say at some point, certainly during the last round of bankruptcy protection in North America, pilots were seen as a cost item. And as the shortage builds, airlines will have to fight to retain pilots, because you need pilots to fly planes.”
The world’s largest airline, American Airlines, didn’t have enough pilots to fly its planes in February. More than 50 flights were grounded when 143 pilots retired and the airline avoided further cancellations by putting 250 managers, who were qualified pilots, into cockpits.
Here in Canada, a hiring boom is underway as carriers try to navigate around a similar fate. Air Canada has hired nearly 700 pilots since July 2005, and with more than 100 pilots retiring every year, training courses for new hires are being offered at least every month.
Air Canada regional carrier Jazz plans to hire 60 to 90 more pilots between now and the end of the year as part of an “aggressive recruitment” plan.
“We currently have one or two classes of pilot training scheduled each month for 2008,” says Air Canada Jazz spokeswoman Debra Williams. “The demand for commercial airline pilots in Canada is high.”
That demand is growing from the bottom up as major carriers, including Air Canada and WestJet, hire experienced pilots from regional carriers who, in turn, take pilots from smaller carriers, training companies and even flying clubs.
At Vancouver-based Pro IFR, one of Canada’s largest professional flight centres, the crunch has already begun. After losing seven flight instructors last year, the company is now actively recruiting.
“We always planned to lose a couple instructors every year (to the airlines) and now it looks like we’re going to lose about six or seven instructors each year,” says John Montgomery, Pro IFR’s founder and president.
The skills shortage is such a universal problem that some carriers and smaller outfits have even reduced their minimum requirements to get pilots at the controls.
“They’re going after people right out of flight school now,” says associate professor Seidel. “And that means they really have to be sure about safety checks and training once they’re hired.”
At American Eagle, applications are being accepted from pilots with 500 flight hours, which typically translates into less than a year’s experience. Of those hours, 100 need to be on a multi-engine airplane.
Western Canadian carrier Central Mountain Air, which flies between B.C. and Alberta, has gone a step further. It’s offering to hire “low-time pilots” to ground positions and then transition them into the cockpit.
All of this is raising questions about safety - especially for some foreign carriers that have less-stringent safety requirements. Experts point to last year’s Garuda Indonesia Airlines crash, which killed 21 people when the plane overshot the runway and burst into flames. The official inquiry found pilot error was to blame.
“Garuda was having difficulty hiring at the time and this incident was attributed to pilot inexperience,” Seidel says. “It’s obviously a very serious example and something that severe probably wouldn’t happen here in Canada. But it’s at the point that people might want to think twice about flying a discount carrier overseas.”
Before working for Kingfisher, Capt. Boucher trained some overseas pilots in an Airbus 320 fight simulator. After 300 hours, they got their rating and were cleared to fly as co-pilots.
“If the pilot becomes incapacitated, we taught them to use the autopilot to land because they don’t trust them to land the plane - it’s crazy, but it’s true,” says Boucher.
While some carriers may be aggressively pursuing newly trained pilots to meet growing demand, others offer an attractive incentive to Canadian pilots - the ability to keep flying past age 60.
“I know the guys that are able to retire now with Air Canada are looking at these carriers (that) will allow you to work to 65,” says Boucher.
Experts say an obvious solution to the pilot shortage would be for Canadian carriers to increase the mandatory retirement age which, in the case of Air Canada, was set back in 1957 when life expectancies were shorter.
“Sixty is quite young in a modern society and there are very few industries with a cut-off at that age,” Seidel says. “Pilots in their 60s are probably the most experienced to handle an emergency situation because time on the job is where you gain experience. I’d prefer to see no arbitrary retirement age and just regular skill testing, so if they fail to pass, they don’t fly.”
In Canada, commercial pilots over age 40 are already subjected to medicals every six months and the proposed changes would require one pilot in every cockpit to be under 60. Even so, it’s a move airlines - and even pilots - have resisted.
“Extending the retirement age will only be a stop-gap,” says ACPA’s Wilson. “To really fix (the shortage) you have to increase wages. There’s no retirement age for doctors and yet there are shortages - we have to make it more attractive.”
Entry-level airline pilots are among the poorest-paid professionals around. At some regional carriers, the starting wage is just over $20,000. Even at Air Canada, the nation’s largest airline, pilots are on frozen pay for the first two years and make $38,000 to start.
“We’re still making wages we made in 1988 and doctors, lawyers and accountants aren’t making the same wages they made then - no wonder there aren’t more pilots,” Wilson says. “If the airlines are concerned about the shortage, they should make the compensation more attractive.”
That’s what the trucking industry has started to do - especially in booming and labour-strapped Alberta and B.C.
“Our highest-paid driver in Alberta made $100,000 last year and the average guy is probably in the $60,000-to- $70,000 range,” says Trevor Fridfinnson, vice-president of western operations for Bison Transport in Calgary.
One of Canada’s largest fleets, Bison employs more than 1,000 drivers and operates all over North America. It has been coping with a chronic, industry-wide driver shortage for at least 10 years. While a strong dollar and high fuel costs have idled the trucking industry in other parts of the country, that’s not the case in Western Canada.
“Between B.C. and Alberta, there’s business and economic strength that maybe isn’t in Eastern and Central Canada right now,” says Fridfinnson. “The demand for people is high and, even with good pay, we’re still scratching to get enough people that are qualified for the job.”
Bison is looking to hire 300 drivers in B.C. and Alberta this year and they’re not alone. According to the Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council, 12 per cent of trucking jobs in Canada are vacant and 37,000 new drivers are needed every year just to keep up with demand.
Manitoba Trucking Association general manager Bob Dolyniuk says: “We have an aging workforce and the average age of a professional driver is higher than the average workforce age. It’s not so much about having the capital assets to grow, but having the human-resource assets to grow.”
In Manitoba it’s projected that 2,000 new drivers are needed each year and Dolyniuk says they’re lucky if they get half that.
As a result, many trucking companies are now recruiting overseas.
“We’ve brought over 100 drivers from various parts of Europe for the last three years because we just don’t have enough people here,” says Fridfinnson. “They’re paid the same wage and there’s obviously fees and expense associated with getting them over, so it’s not a small proposition. But if it’s a qualified driver who’s got experience, it makes sense to do it.”
With only 35 per cent of job applicants in Canada identifying themselves as “qualified” drivers, some less scrupulous trucking outfits aren’t so picky. “That’s absolutely true and with Alberta the tightest labour market, that’s where you’ll see shortcuts being taken,” Fridfinnson says.
Down the road, it’s predicted the situation will only get worse - just like the pilot shortage. “They’re all fishing from the same pool,” says Wilson. “The crunch has started and it’s only a matter of time before it filters up to the main lines in the next few years.”
02/27/08
An Olympian construction: Beijing's new departure in air travel
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
The Independent: World
To descend the walkways into Beijing’s gleaming terminal 3 is to enter China’s vision of 21st-century air travel and, more than that, Chinese authorities’ vision of their country. That most ancient of Chinese symbols, the dragon, is overlaid with state-of-the-art technology to produce an airport building that is beautiful, efficient and environmentally sustainable.
The newly wealthy citizens of a confident, powerful China will be treated to what is hailed as the world’s biggest building. Designed by Lord Foster and built by the British-based global engineer Arup, the terminal caters for a rapidly expanding middle-class in China, keen to exercise their new financial muscle by taking to the skies. The project was delivered in four years, less time than it took to start even drawing up the plans for Heathrow’s Terminal 5.
Beijing’s reconstruction, and transformation, from a 14th-century capital centred around a cosmological axis and the Forbidden City, has been the most dramatic building project the world has seen in peacetime.
And now it has its airport. It is stunning. A golden roof slopes gently above the glass and steel main structure, and the skylights dotting the top of the building are designed to let natural light into the terminal, which is just under two miles long. They look like the raised scales on a mythical dragon’s back.
“The design responds to the client’s requirements for a world-class airport with an environmentally responsible design and the need to be able to generate something special that can be modulated and built very fast,” said Rory McGowan, the director of building engineering at the Beijing office of Arup. “The interior has an asymmetric, curvaceous and spacious interiors but with modular features that allowed it to be built on schedule and for the machinery and electronic systems to be installed in a modular way.”
Along with the CCTV Tower, designed by the Dutch superstar architect, Rem Koolhaas, and the Herzog & De Meuron Bird’s Nest stadium, both also built by Arup, the airport is yet another of the towering architectural achievements that have marked the Olympic preparations. Norman Foster’s triumphant creation will wow visitors when they touch down in August for the biggest sporting event on earth.
Beautiful as it may be, the airport raises several issues. The rising number of air travellers is a nightmare for environmentalists watching as China’s carbon footprint begins to mimic that of the West. And although the structure has brought attention back to the Olympic preparations, the debate about human rights issues, China’s role in Darfur and the Tibet and Xinjiang questions are not going to go away.
The Olympics are a source of great pride to the Chinese, and a £3bn makeover of the city is intended to show the world the progress the country has made in the past 30 years of “socialism with Chinese characteristics".
The terminal is actually three buildings connected by a train and is similar in design, in some ways, to Lord Foster’s Chep Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong, particularly in the descending walkways entering the building.
Given that Hong Kong airport regularly wins best airport in the world prizes, and that Beijing’s present over-stretched international terminal is way down the list of the world’s favourites, passengers who use the airport regularly are hoping some of that Hong Kong efficiency rubs off on the new Beijing terminal. Inside, the feel of the airport is similar to that of Stansted or Chep Lap Kok, and follows Lord Foster’s principle about airports being like hangars, one big room rather than a lot of fiddly spaces which serve only to confuse passengers.
“In old airports, people feel disoriented,” Mr McGowan said. “This modern design gives you a sense of direction. The orientation of the roof means you have a directional flow.”
Dotted with traditional Chinese symbols such as red pillars, there are elements of the ancient temple here, all interwoven with contemporary technology and design and topped by an aerodynamic roof. Although it is not clear how much of an involvement feng shui advisers had in the airport – the necromancers who decide the most auspicious way to construct a building played a role in Lord Foster’s other constructions such as the HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong – the building is laden with vital and lucky symbolism.
The dragon shape is a sign of strength and a harbinger of luck in China. The terminal is shaped like the character for ren, which means “people", an auspicious term, and also a politically correct one in China, which is still communist in theory. The colour scheme, running from yellow to orange to red, is also in auspicious colours and, of course, the hint of dragon scale serves only to underline its lucky aspects.
“Terminal 3 will be one of the world’s more environmentally sustainable airports and has been designed to respond to Beijing’s cold winters, hot summers, short autumn and spring seasons,” Mr McGowan said. “The ’scales’ on the roof are oriented south-east, directed in to capture the winter sun, warming the building on winter mornings and make the most of available daylight during normal operational times and then to maximise shade in the summer, while still providing natural light.”
The building also has integrated environmental control systems to minimise energy consumption and carbon emissions. It is 17 per cent bigger than the combined floor space of all of Heathrow’s terminals, including the new terminal 5, which is one third the size of Beijing’s terminal 3, and has taken 20 years.
The addition of the terminal in Beijing and a third runway will provide what is already China’s busiest airport with the capacity to support the Games and allow up to 90 million passengers a year by 2012. Terminal 3 has a state-of-the-art £125m baggage-handling system with 40 miles of conveyor belts that can handle 20,000 pieces of luggage an hour, twice as many boarding gates as the old terminals and nearly 300 check-in desks.
There is a light-rail terminal which will whisk visitors in just under 15 minutes the 15 miles to Tiananmen Square downtown, and the terminal is equipped with the gates and a runway capable of handling the giant double-decker Airbus A380 superjumbo. The airy interior will have 64 Western and Chinese restaurants and 84 retail shops. The terminal cost £1.4bn and that is just for the building alone; with support services and other infrastructure factored in, the project cost £2.3bn.
The increased capacity will place Beijing airport among the top five globally for total passenger numbers, alongside Heath-row, Europe’s busiest airport; Atlanta, the busiest in the world, Asia’s busiest airport, Tokyo Haneda, and Chicago O’Hare.
Flights will start from the new terminal on Friday, and British Airways will be among the first six airlines to use the terminal. The remainder will be transferred next month.
Considering the fanfare to launch the other signature buildings for the Olympics, such as the Water Cube swimming venue, the opening of the airport was relatively low-key. Most media were not told about the launch, the Beijing Olympic organisers were not involved in the ceremony, and even some of the partners involved in designing and building the airport were kept in the dark about the event.
The official line was modest. The terminal is “a safe and efficient non-competition venue for the much anticipated Beijing Olympics Games", Dong Zhiyi, the deputy general manager of the Capital Airport Holding Company, said. “We feel very proud of our nation.”
It is set to be a major entry point for international travel, an absolute must given that Beijing will become the top tourist destination in the world by 2020.
02/26/08
Foster's Beijing airport opens
26 February, 2008
Building
By Martin Spring
The largest building in the world opens ahead of schedule and in time for the 2008 Olympics
Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport, the world’s largest building, has opened after four years of design and construction work.
Completed ahead of schedule for the 2008 Olympics, it is designed to be the gateway to Beijing for participating athletes. Its aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form celebrate the flight.
The red, orange and yellow interior palatte evokes traditional Chinese colours.
Located between the existing eastern runway and the future third runway, Terminal 3 and the Ground Transportation Centre enclose a floor area of about 1.3 million square metres, mostly under one roof.
The first building to break the one million square meter barrier, it will accommodate an estimated 50 million passengers a year by 2020.
Norman Foster said:"This new terminal is the largest and most advanced airport building in the world – a celebration of the thrill and poetry of flight.
“A gateway to Beijing, it communicates a unique sense of place, its dragon-like form evoking traditional Chinese colours and symbols.”
Mouzhan Majidi, chief executive of Foster + Partners and lead achitect for the project and said: “The new terminal at Beijing Capital has been designed, built and commissioned, within a mere four year period at a scale and quality which is awesome.
“It is a true gateway to the 2008 Olympics – and we are delighted that it has opened in good time for this world event.”
http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3107219&c=0
02/14/08
Hijacker demanded to go to Australia
By Xavier La Canna
news.com.au
February 08, 2008 05:51pm
A WOMAN in New Zealand has been charged with hijacking after she stabbed two pilots and threatened to blow up a small plane unless she was flown to Australia, police said.
The 19-seat Jetstream J32 aircraft, operated by Air National for Air New Zealand, was flying from the southern provincial town of Blenheim to Christchurch when the mid-air drama unfolded, prompting the pilots to issue a mayday call.
Christchurch police commander Superintendent Dave Cliff said the 33-year-old woman, a Blenheim resident originally from Somalia who was not immediately identified, claimed there were bombs aboard the aircraft.
Knife
In a statement, police said the woman approached the cockpit about 10 minutes after the flight took off, holding a knife.
“The suspect is alleged to have made demands to go to Australia. The pilots suggested they return to Blenheim and the suspect refused this request,'’ police said.
One of the pilots received a wound to his hand, requiring surgery.
Two of the passengers attempted to calm the woman but she repelled them, with one of them suffering a cut hand.
“The suspect is alleged to have threatened them and told them she had a bomb,'’ police said.
Aircraft controls
The woman continued to hold the knife while standing directly behind the pilots during the flight and tried to handle the aircraft’s controls as the plane began approaching Christchurch Airport.
After the plane landed in Christchurch, the alleged hijacker asked the pilots to open an emergency door, which they refused to do.
Pilot wrestled
While passengers disembarked through a rear door on the plane, the woman wrestled with the pilot on the floor.
The co-pilot received a cut on his foot while trying to help his colleague, but he was able to disarm the woman and throw her knife outside the plane.
The woman was taken into police custody when the plane landed in Christchurch at about 8am (0600 AEDT), 20 minutes after the pilots sent the distress call.
Police later found another knife in the woman’s shoes.
The woman was charged with hijacking, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and two counts of injuring with intent to injure.
She is due to appear in court tomorrow.
In New Zealand hijacking carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The other six passengers on board - four New Zealanders, an Australian and an Indian national - were evacuated safely. One suffered a minor hand injury in the incident, Cliff said.
The New Zealand Press Association reported that “three or four people'’ were taken from the airport by ambulance.
Flights suspended
Flights to and from Christchurch were suspended for more than two hours while the aircraft was searched, but police said no bomb was found.
Air New Zealand said it would review its security systems.
“Today’s incident, although a one-off, has naturally given us cause to conduct a thorough review of our safety and security systems and processes on regional domestic flights,'’ Bruce Parton, general manager for short-haul airlines, said.
Passengers taking domestic flights out of Blenheim airport are not subject to security checks, and hand luggage is not scanned.
01/30/08
Personal Income Tax in China
Personal Income Tax
The current income tax was deducted before you get your salary. The company is responsible to charge you tax on your behalf.
The formula is
$$$ due to tax = your monthly salary - basic tax waive $ - personal social insurances etc
* basic tax waive $ is typically from 800 RMB to 1600 RMB depending on the province/city you are in. That means, if your salary is lower than this amount, you don’t have to pay tax.
* personal social insurances are different kinds of insurance you pay to the government, like housing allowance, retirement insurance, medical insurances, unemployment insurance. To be short, there are many insurances that you need to pay the government. For the company, they also need to pay the company’s portion of the same insurance for you, which is typically 45-48% of your salary.
Tax = $$$ due to tax * Tax Percentage - Easy Deduction Rate
* Easy Deduction Rate: It is just for easiness of calculation. For example, if you way a rate of 25%, there is a portion (below 20,000) that is due to lower rate (20%, 15%, 10% and 5%), so you don’t need to pay as much as 25% of the full amount, so you deduct the Easy Deduction Rate.
Tax Grade
Grade | Monthly Salary (RM
| Tax Percentage | Easy Deduction Rate
1 $ less than 500 | 5% | 0
2 500 to 2,000 | 10% | 25
3 2,000 to 5,000 | 15% | 125
4 5,000 to 20,000 | 20% | 375
5 20,000 to 40,000 | 25% | 1375
6 40,000 to 60,000 | 30% | 3375
7 60,000 to 80,000 | 35% | 6375
8 80,000 to 100,000 | 40% | 10375
9 $ more than 100,000 | 45% | 15375
Consuming Tax
When you buy goods, you are paying consuming tax, but it is included in the final price everywhere. You have no idea about that you are actually paying tax.
Self-claim tax for annual salary > 120K
There is a new policy that people with income > 120K will need to claim tax by themselves. I never really understand what it means. Let’s wait and see how it works.
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at January 8, 2007 11:27 PM
Disclaimer: Tax in China is like many other things. It is a blur concept, and confusing most of time. I am not a professional on this. To be honest, if I were not to prepare this article, I never really understand or try to understand how tax works. So there may be error or misunderstanding in this document. Refer to official document instead of this person.
http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20070108_personal_income_tax_in_china.htm
